Life In Blue Mars

Before we start, I would like to apologize for my absence from the scene in recent days, as life over her eon my side has gotten a bit hectic and has prevented me from being as involved as I would have liked to have been over the past few months. But moving on from that, wow! Just look at this update. The Blue Mars Marketplace has opened, which allows developers to list their shops for sale and their blocks for sale. Blue Mars got voice, using the excellent Vivox service (which also provides Second Life with their voice). Users are now able to preview items before they buy them, and it is now possible to upload shapes and skins! Quite alot has happened in my absence, but I am coming back full force! One of the things that I will be focusing on in my return, is volunteering. When I first signed up for Blue Mars, I had also applied to become a volunteer because I had been a Mentor in the past in SL and always had a great experience with that venture. Although I unfortunately missed Monday's meeting, I will certainly be at thursdays, so if any of my fellow volunteers are reading this, I'll see you there! Also expect to see some city reviews and more updates from me as I make my rounds to new cities and new places.

As always, love my readers and i'll keep you updated!

Till next time,
Your friendly neighborhood blogger Zetsu.

Hey Everyone! Its your friendly neighborhood blogger Zetsu! Blue Mars just got a small, but still awesome update yesterday! For all those who haven'tchecked out the newest update or been to the site yet, two new cities have been added to the places browser!

Dragon City by Lex4Art

and

Digital DNA by VRHacks

I had the chance to go in and take some pictures and video of both of these cities! (these are coming at the bottom of the blog post)

First of all, I would just like to say that both of these cities are getting off to an absolutely great start! Although these are only the first versions of Dragon City and Digital DNA they look pretty good so far.

Dragon City: As stated in the city description, Dragon City is a futuristic city that is a Work In Progress (WIP) and although it is a WIP the welcome area to this city is certainly a great showing of what is to come here. The detail in the small preview area of this city is absolutely amazing, i beleive we are really starting to see how great things can look in Blue Mars with the CryEngine backing it up and the amazing toolset.

Digital DNA: Although this city may not be as detailed as Dragon City is when it comes to structures, the detail that Digital DNA offers with it's amazing foliage, fun pathways to walk down and check what's available in this first glance of the city, is pretty cool in its own right.

Overall, I enjoyed both of these cities and cant wait to see them grow as Blue Mars does as well.

As promised, here are the pics/vids of the new cities:

(If the videos look a little slow, thats cause I lost some FPS through recording, so I apologize for that.)

Dragon City Video:

Life In Blue Mars Presents - Dragon City Walkthrough from Zetsumei Ieyashi on Vimeo.

Dragon City Pictures:









Digital DNA Video:

Life In Blue Mars Presents - Digital DNA Walkthrough from Zetsumei Ieyashi on Vimeo.

Digital DNA Pictures:

Hey everyone! It's your friendly neighborhood blogger Zetsumei! Today was the big Meet and Greet in Caledonia! For those of you who have either been living under a rock or are brand new to Blue Mars, Caledonia is one of two new cities owned by Desmond Shang, the same person who owns Caledon in SL. A little while back I had interviewed Desmond about Caledonia (Link: http://lifeinbluemars.blogspot.com/2009/12/interview-with-desmond-shang-of.html ) and today we all got to get together in Caledonia and have a great time too!

There was a huge turnout! Atleast 20-30 people showed up! Of the ARI staff unfortunately Glenn was not able to make this Meet and Greet due to some network troubles but Tiffany, Mark, and Masa were able to make it. As you can tell from the screenshots ive posted below in my usual jam-packed flickr slideshow, there was alot of chatting, alot of people making friends and getting to know each other, and a hugfest started by myself =P You'll see a few people getting huggled tightly in those pics hehe. Caledonia was running as smoothly as ever with this many people in it, and all was well. Desmond arrived just intime, and kindly answered whatever questions people had about Caledonia.

Well thats about all for now guys! Enjoy the thick slideshow ive psoted with a whopping 15 photo's of the meet and greet!

Hello there everyone! Its your friendly neighborhood blogger extraodinaire~ Zetsumei Ieyashi. Today to begin my Creator Showcase series, I've got an interview with Desmond Shang of Caledon in SL and Caledonia in Blue Mars!

From Life In Blue Mars

Hello there Desmond, thank you for letting me interview you today, I've got a few questions I'd love for us to go over.

Zetsu: What first attracted you to Blue Mars?

Desmond: A couple things. First, the Cryengine and its incredible capabilities, and second, I think the economic model is going to be the 'engine' that creates great content, supports small businesses and sustains a generally well~rounded and healthy community.

Zetsu: How long has Caledonia been in production?

Desmond: Since April 2009. Yes, I kept it quiet for about eight months, as did a good number of freelance designers giving me a hand with it. Amazing it stayed quiet! But it did!

Zetsu: Do you have any plans for the future of Caledonia?

Desmond: YES!!! It's going to be mainly a cooperative plan, though, as the Caledonia community is going to build out their vision, I just unleash it ~ but I've got a few surprises planned in there also :) Caledonia will be anything but static!

Zetsu: What are your going rates at the moment for blocks/shops/apartments?

Desmond: Right now, a starter deal of 20 USD/month of BLU, for a city parcel. I've got a fair number of takers already, it's going nicely!

Zetsu: Is it / do you think it will be difficult managing both your Second Life continent and now your Blue Mars continent?

Desmond: Nah. Anyone could do this, really! Work is easy, if you love doing it! Sure I get busy, but I'd rather be busy at something I like, than calmly doing something I hated... I hope that makes sense?

Zetsu: Is Caledonia connected to your Second Life Continent in any manner?

Desmond: Quite so ~ Caledonia is a colony in the New World, socially and historically connected to Caledon. Think of it as a ridiculously rich and storied backstory! That said, Blue Martians won't be beholden to Victoria City, and we'll no doubt build a complex, rich but slightly different society on Blue Mars.

Zetsu: What is your dream vision of Caledonia becoming for users in Blue Mars? Lets say a projection into the future a year from now.

Desmond: Oh, a year from now we'll still be in the early days! By that time I expect to see major group projects nearing completion, not just shops and houses... the technology base maturing, and uniquely native traditions arising. And expect surprises! As can be observed from our launch, sometimes major things spring up when least expected. More fun that way! Count on me being "up to something" always... grin


That's all for today's issue of Life In Blue Mars! In the coming days expect articles on both Pavnois and Caledonia, including many pictures as i know you all like!

Hello there everyone!

Today I am announcing the beginning of my Creator Showcase series of interviews.

Over the next several months I will be interviewing several city developers and showcasing a new city developer perhaps every week or so (or just about whenever I have the chance to interview someone, this will also be affected by the overall number of city devs available at the moment, so as of now there may not be too many at first, but I assure you that this series will be going on straight through public release and forwards.)

In these interviews I will be asking questions such as,

"What inspired you to start working with Blue Mars?"

"What is the theme of your city, and tell me a little about the storyline?"

"What are plans you have for your city?"

and questions similar to those. I hope to over time build a comprehensive list of city developers and a good several articles of interviews.

Here is a sneak preview of city developers I hope to interview as time goes on:

Desmond Shang of Caledonia

Corey Evans of Grid Rock City

Gus of WildWestGames

Rock Vacirca of Valles Marineris and Arabian Nights

Takuan Daikon

and many more as time goes on.

I am hoping to showcase atleast one of these developers before the week's end so keep checking back for more news!

(PS: If you are interested in being showcased please message me on the beta forums, the dev forums, or leave a comment here. If you are a content developer, but not a city developer, dont feel left out! I will happily interview you as well. I am also contactable by skype, my SN there is metthias- )

Hi everyone! The past couple of weeks here I've been plotting and planning about how I would go about creating a city and what it would be about if I was able to get one. Ive been going at it double time ever since I was accepted on the NDA and received the SDK. So as I've neared my first acceptable draft of the plan I figured I would like to share it with you all and see what interest there was out there for a city of this type. Keep in mind that this is only a plan, but if everything turns out nicely I may be able to produce it. Another of my hopes through this post is that I will be attracting people who would be interested in joining a team to help me produce this. As of now I don't have much of a team, and hope to be able to build one soon. More details can be had if you contact me at metthias- on skype or Zetsumei on the beta forums.

I put together a ning to hold the idea and discussion/organization of it for now.

It is located at: http://tertiusprime.ning.com/forum/topics/tertius-prime-city-plan